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Walmart buys Jet.com

It was announced today that Walmart is acquiring Jet.com. Jet set out to become an Amazon killer. The purchase of Jet by Walmart is an effort by both companies to do just that.

What intrigues me the most about this is that it leads me closer to the belief that Amazon will likely acquire Macy’s in due time. Walmart needed Jet to get deeper into the E-commerce space. Amazon needs Macy’s to get deeper into the store space.

The question I think other retailers and especially brands need to ask themselves is how do you compete or manage into this new retail model. It’s sort of like LinkedIn selling itself to MicroSoft. LinkedIn, as big and successful as it was, didn’t have the resources to advance itself and compete against Facebook and Google. As a brand or retailer of fashion goods, or any consumer good for that matter, you need to ask yourself what this really means.

It’s no longer about product, it’s about marketing and inventory. As a brand you need to market a lifestyle concept that people really freakin want. And if you have any hopes of being successful you’ll need to crowdsource those product to make sure you manage inventory. There will be no room for mistakes when you have what amounts to two behemoths controlling the entire marketplace.